Fast bowler James Anderson has said that Ben Stokes had asked the umpires to not give the four runs as overthrows which ultimately proved vital for England's win over New Zealand in the ICC Cricket World Cup final at Lords on July 14.
The incident that happened during the final over of the match when England was chasing a target of 241, Stokes accidentally hit the ball while diving for a second run with the back of his bat. The ball got deflected and went to to the third man boundary giving England six runs. After consulting each other, Kumar Dharmasena and Marais Erasmus decided to give six runs which put England on the driver's seat. The hosts before that ball needed nine runs from three balls, after that incident their target was reduced to three runs of two balls. The all-rounder was seen putting his hands up in an apologetic manner for the boundary that England got luckily.
James Anderson was quoted by Sydney Morning Herald as telling BBC's Tailenders podcast, "The etiquette in cricket is if the ball is thrown at the stumps and it hits you and goes into a gap in the field you don't run. But if it goes to the boundary, in the rules it's four and you can't do anything about it."
"I think, talking to Michael Vaughan who saw him after the game, Ben Stokes actually went to the umpires and said, 'Can you take that four runs off. We don't want it'.But it's in the rules and that's the way it is," he added.
The rules regarding the boundary and also the tie of super over have been criticised by cricket fans all over the world. They believe that ICC's rules are baseless and problematic and resulted in New Zealand's loss in such an important match.
ICC, on the other hand, has not commented on the issue.
